1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a fluid system, and more particularly to an automate fluid flow control system, which allows to control a flow rate and an amount of fluid flowing through a fluid system, such as a faucet system, a toilet system, a showering system, or even a water piping system.
2. Description of Related Arts
A fluid system, such as a toilet system, a faucet system, or a water piping system, generally comprises a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, and a fluid valve device operatively communicating between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet to control the fluid flowing from the fluid inlet to the fluid outlet.
For example, a manual operated valve device, using for in the faucet system or the toilet system, comprises a valve body communicating the water inlet with the water outlet, a relief valve disposed in the valve body for blocking the water flowing from the water inlet to the water outlet, and an actuation lever arranged to move the relief valve at a position that the water is allowed to flow to the water outlet for completing the water flowing operation.
For hygiene purposes, an improved valve device provides an automatic operation for the faucet system or the toilet system. Such valve device is a solenoid operated valve for utilizing a latching solenoid to limit power drain on the battery. Accordingly, when the infrared sensor detects the presence of a user of a faucet or toilet, the solenoid operated valve is automatically driven to open to complete the water flowing operation. However, the solenoid valve has several common drawbacks.
The presence of the user sensed by the infrared sensor will cause the solenoid to move the diaphragm to a valve open position. It is known that the solenoid is made of a number of circular wire loops to generate a magnetic force when an electric current is passed through the wire loops. The solenoid may come in contact with water such that the solenoid may accumulate rusting particles from the water, which may remain on the solenoid. It is one of the common problems to cause a failure of operation of the solenoid operated valve. In other words, the conventional manual operated valve is more reliable than the solenoid operated valve. Thus, the maintenance cost of the solenoid operated valve is higher than that of the conventional manual operated valve.
In addition, the structural design of the solenoid operated valve is different from that of the manual operated valve. In other words, when the fluid system is incorporated with the solenoid operated valve, the fluid system will lose the mechanical-manual operated feature. Therefore, there is no alternative to operate the water flowing cycle when the solenoid operated valve has failed to operate.
In order to install the solenoid operated valve into the conventional fluid system, the mechanical-manual operating mechanism of the valve must be totally removed, which is a waste of resources in order to incorporate with the solenoid operated valve.
The configuration of the solenoid operated valve is complicated, wherein once the solenoid is broken or the battery is dead, the facility should call a technician to open an outer cover and disassemble an inner cover for the replacement of the solenoid or the battery. Due to the complicated structure of the solenoid operated valve, the solenoid operated valve requires a skilled technician to replace the broken solenoid and/or even replace the battery, which may further increase the maintenance cost of the solenoid operated valve.
Especially when the solenoid operated valve is incorporated with the faucet system, the water temperature of the water at the water outlet is preset that cannot be selectively adjusted by the user. It is worth to mention that the user is able to selectively adjust the water temperature at the water outlet via the actuation lever. However, once, the solenoid operated valve is installed into the faucet system, the actuation lever must be removed from the original faucet which cannot be operated manually any more. Therefore, the technician must preset the water temperature for the faucet with the solenoid operated valve.
In addition, the diaphragm is generally made of flexible material, such as rubber, wherein the diaphragm is driven to be popped due to the fluid pressure change within the valve body. Therefore, the diaphragm will be distorted or broken after a period of continued use. In other words, once the diaphragm is placed improper, the diaphragm cannot be sealed within the valve body and it will cause fluid leakage.
The improved valve device cannot control the amount of fluid flowing through the valve body. In fact, the improved valve device can only control the opened/closed position of the valve body. Therefore, the improved valve device cannot be considered as an environmental friendly product. For example, a plurality of water saving aerators must be incorporated with the valve device for water saving purpose. For faucet configuration, a water faucet aerator adapter must be installed into the faucet outlet in order to reduce the amount of water being used. For showering configuration, a showerhead aerator must be installed into to the showerhead. Therefore, every single water system must incorporate particular aerator in order to control the amount of water to be used. In other words, there is no existing valve device able to control the amount of fluid.